Seeing You
by Auna
Summary: Kim's story
1. Chapter 1

Title: Seeing You  
>Author: Auna<br>Summary: Kim's story.  
>Disclaimer: The characters and situations are not mine, I'm only borrowing them and I'm not making any money from this endeavor.<p>

Author's note: I've noticed that only about half the people reading chapter one have followed on to chapter 2. So if that describes you, please do me a favor and let me know why you decide to back out. :) I've got tough armor, so constructive critism won't hurt my feelings. Thanks for helping me to improve my writing!

xxxxxxx

"It's so hard to describe. It's not like love at first sight, really. It's more like… gravity moves. When you see _her_, suddenly it's not the earth holding you here anymore. She does. And nothing matters more than her. And you would do anything for her, be anything for her…. **You become whatever she needs you to be, whether that's a protector, or a lover, or a friend or a brother**." -Jacob Black, Eclipse, page 176 (emphasis added)

xxxxxxx

Kim hunched lower in her seat and bowed her head slightly, letting the brown strands fall loose around her face to hide it. Her heart pounded in her chest and her mouth felt drier than last night's overcooked chicken. She ignored the snickers of the two teens sitting the seats next to her, pretending that they weren't laughing her. It was easier that way.

The door to the classroom creaked and without raising her face, she strained her eyes to see _him_ walk in. Her heart thumped even harder in her chest and her hands started to shake slightly as butterflies migrated en masse to her stomach. She could barely breathe and the lack of oxygen made her slightly light-headed.

She never thought it possible, but the boy had become even more gorgeous. Gone for weeks with mono and he shows back up to school two inches taller and with a thousand more pounds of muscle. All that, combined with his new haircut, had resulted in Jared spending the last three days since his return surrounded by a harem of girls flirting with him.

Kim envied them slightly, how easily they smiled and batted their eyes and wiggled their hips oh-so-alluringly. She'd kill to be alluring. She'd kill for the simple ability to speak coherently to a member of the opposite sex.

She watched Jared step into the room and scan the area. His routine rarely varied. In a moment, he would smile and laugh his way through the crowd and sit in the second row, last seat. He would drop his backpack under the desk and ask the girl in front of him for a pencil with a charming smile. Only he didn't.

Today, his review of the room took longer and seemed more intense, deliberate and thorough, as if searching for someone specific. Finally, his eyes stopped in her direction, Kim figured he'd noticed Sophy sitting directly behind her, and he sidestepped three girls, four backpacks and two boys as he made his way through the maze.

As he grew nearer, Kim dropped her eyes to her notebook. Despite the camouflage of her hair, she would not take the chance he would see her straining her eyes to stare.

Her lungs completely stopped taking in air as he approached. Without even looking, she felt his presence, felt the familiar and tortuous magnetic pull that she both loved and hated at the same time. The sensation intensified with his ever closer proximity.

And then, to her simultaneous delight and horror, he dropped his backpack under the desk to her right and crammed his huge frame into the seat. What about Sophy? Shouldn't he walk around the aisle and start flirting with girl who was sure to be this year's prom queen?

Desperate for something to do, she forced her shaking hands to reach under her desk and pull up her own backpack, searching for a pencil. The teacher would be here any second now. Somehow, her target had disappeared and the search became a quest as she shuffled books and papers around to look for the little yellow stick.

This would just round out her wonderful day. Sophy and Michael snickered beside her again and sharp humiliation slithered through her veins.

"Here," Jared's voice said softly, and his hand brushed against her arm as a pencil appeared on her desk.

Her heart stopped and her eyes darted in his direction against her will. Their revolt only lasted a split second before she gained control, but in that short time they took in his gentle smile and those eyes filled with compassion.

Great. He felt sorry for her. She preferred to be faceless. She wanted to say thank you, but her mouth wouldn't operate as per instructions, so she managed a weak nod.

Mr. Stone called the class to order, saving her from any further interaction.

Lovesick and feeling pathetic, she picked up _his_ pencil and held it in her fingers. This would be the closest she'd ever come to touching him, and she vowed she would never lose his charitable gift.

Class was a challenge to endure as she tried to pay attention to the teacher, take notes, and constantly remind herself to perform what would normally be involuntary functions like breathing, blinking, and swallowing. Shooting the random glances in his direction through her hair, she realized that he spent the entire hour turned in her direction.

To be realistic, he had to sit sideways; his body was so big that he didn't fit properly into the small space. But she allowed herself a small fantasy that he kept his feet three inches from her own crossed under her desk because he wanted a connection with her, to be close to her. That's why he chose that particular desk today.

A girl was allowed to fantasize, right? And even if this particular fantasy was right up there with pixies and stardust, it was still fun to imagine.

At last the bell rang, freeing her from the torment, and with near superhuman speed she raced from the room to make it to the cafeteria before all the seats were taken. The effort felt Herculean, like one of those nightmares where you run with all your strength, but some invisible force pulls at you.

She should have returned his pencil.

But then she'd have to interact with him.

Shaking her head, Kim yanked open the cafeteria doors to discover she was the first person there. That made life easier. Retrieving her tray, she claimed her table in the farthest corner of the cafeteria and plopped down to flip _his_ pencil with one hand as she picked at the unidentifiable food in her tray with the other.

The yellow twirl of the pencil as it looped through her fingers became mesmerizing, and she soon forgot the gloppy food in front of her. With each rotation of the writing utensil, she amused herself with a memory about Jared.

_Flip flip flip flip_. The goofy smile on his face in eighth grade when he won the class spelling bee. _Flip flip flip flip._ The time he bumped into her while rushing to his locker in ninth grade. _Flip flip flip flip._ The time he cut Mr. Yeager's lawn when the man got laid up with a broken leg. _Flip flip flip flip_.

This was ridiculous. She needed to get a grip. Whatever mystical connection she felt was completely one sided, and if anyone ever caught wind of the fact that in her own mind she labeled Jared as "mine", she'd be given therapy sessions for sure.

"That's really impressive."

Jared's voice broke into her self-analysis, startling her and causing her to screech while her hand sent the pencil flying through the air with missile-like precision, straight for the center of his forehead.

His hand shot out and caught it with less than an inch for the sharp lead to pierce his skin. "You've got good aim, too," he chuckled good-naturedly.

Kim desperately wanted to say something witty, something blasé and cool. Instead, she stared at him with shock, her mouth slightly open and strange sounds coming from her throat. She forced her mouth closed, furious with herself that her blank mind couldn't produce a simple greeting.

"Is this seat taken?" he asked, gesturing to the empty chair across the table from her.

She managed to shake her head "no", and dropped her gaze back to the slop on the table in front of her.

"Do you mind if I…?" he pointed to the chair again with the eraser of the writing utensil.

She shook her head "no" again, picking up her fork and poking at the red substance, stalling as she waited for him to grab the seat and go, taking his pencil with him. She sighed. So much for her souvenir.

And then the impossible happened. He slid into the seat, carefully placing his overloaded tray on the table, adjusting his drink and settling in.

Kim didn't have the nerve to look around, but she felt three hundred sets of eyes glued to the back of her neck. What on earth was he _doing_?

"Apple?" he offered, picking the fruit off his tray and handing it out to her.

She only stared at him in confusion.

"It's just," he said, putting the apple on her tray, "I noticed the Daily Surprise wasn't cutting it for you, and I thought you might be hungry."

So this was a mission of mercy. But how on earth could he have noticed her lack of appetite? It wasn't like he ever looked at her long enough to step out of the way in the hallway, let alone realize she wasn't eating.

Yesterday was the perfect example. He nearly tripped over her on their way out of history class, and the look of pure shock on his face that she actually existed humiliated her so badly, she ran to the library and hid during lunch break. The sight of his wide eyes and slightly opened mouth would forever burn in her psyche.

Any second now he would tire of her silence and move on to someone less mentally challenged. She had to say something. Anything.

"Thank you."

SCORE! It had been somewhat squeaky, slightly faint, but actual words had passed her lips.

He smiled broadly, like he'd just received a present or something. "You're welcome."

The feeble conversation came to a screeching halt momentarily while he started eating. She tried not to stare, but as she nibbled on her apple, she couldn't help but watch as vast amounts of food began disappearing at an alarming rate. He must be starving.

Which made the sacrifice of his apple so much more poignant. Why was he here?

"I noticed you didn't have a jacket today," he said finally. "It's going to rain; do you have a ride home after school?"

"Yes," she managed. The bus was a ride.

Jared nodded, satisfied with her answer, but she imagined his eyes had seemed slightly disappointed. He ate a few more bites.

"Sophy and Michael should leave you alone from now on," he said at last, out of the blue. "Let me know if you have any more problems with them."

"Why would I do that?" she heard her voice ask, shocking herself. Did that really come from her?

He pierced her with his gaze, his brown eyes looking into hers. "Because you shouldn't have to listen to them acting like morons all year long," he answered.

The bell rang, saving her from having to answer him. She swung her backpack over her shoulder and reached for her tray, but Jared beat her to it, stacking it on top of his. "I'll take care of it."

"Thank you," she mumbled and escaped into the sea of teenagers making the daily exodus from the cafeteria. She swept along with the tide out into the hall without looking back.

The rest of the day flowed by like a surreal dream. Jared was _everywhere_. She couldn't escape him. Always down the hall from her talking to someone, or reading a bulletin board. She couldn't remember ever seeing him so often, and she'd been looking for him.

She breathed a sigh of gratitude as she sunk into the seat of the bus. Resting her head on the window, she watched the scenery flow by, hypnotizing her. Another day over.

At last, the bus stopped and she stepped off, watching until it disappeared around the corner. With no one around, she could be herself. The freedom raced through her veins and she walked home quickly.

If she was smart, she'd do her homework. But the day had shrouded her with restlessness, and she needed to work off pent up energy. It only took a moment for her to change her clothes, and within ten minutes, she was ready.

Dressed in sweatpants, running shoes and her favorite hoodie, she donned her earbuds and stretched her muscles before starting her familiar track through the nearby woods. Here was freedom. Here, she was capable, intelligent, and strong. She regulated her breathing and hurtled a fallen tree with a gracefulness she could never achieve at school… or anywhere public.

She pushed herself hard, loving the familiar scrunch of the mulch under her feet, the smell of the wet trees, the cool air whipping at her face. Even the rivulets of rain trailing down her face she felt an affinity with. She was home, and this was her element. She wound her way over the trail, letting the music from her ipod choose the rhythm and tempo of her steps.

She lost track of time, and idly noted that she'd completed roughly a third of her usual routine when something brown flashed in her peripheral vision. She didn't take much notice, probably some passing deer or elk. But the distant brown didn't fade, and she realized that it was keeping pace with her.

Smiling with the thrill, she shot a glance over her shoulder to identify the species of her new friend. To her shock and horror it wasn't a cute doe or masculine elk to greet her, but a massive, horse-sized wolf jumping a low-lying branch.

Kim felt the scream burst from her gut, through her lungs and escape to bounce off the trees and brush surrounding her. Her toe caught on a large rock and the hard ground pounding on her body matched the fear spiraling through her chest and limbs.

Before she could react, before she could pull in enough air to continue her blood-curdling scream, before her body even fully realized it had landed on the ground, a large muzzle, whimpering, pushed at her neck, sniffing.

Frozen in terror, she felt hot breath wash over her face and a warm soft tongue lick her ear before the muzzle poked and prodded her arms, her waist, and finally her legs and feet. She mustered enough control to squeeze her eyes shut tight, waiting for the creature to start its meal and finish her off.

But instead of the sharp teeth piercing through her skin, she heard the animal walk a few paces away, still emitting a gentle whimper.

Cracking one eye opened, she could see that the wolf had backed away from her and sat, staring at her. Waiting.

She too waited, and tried to regulate her breathing in an attempt to combat the irregular pulse which alternately stopped, and then sped. She didn't know what the delay was, but she didn't want to make any sudden moves and change the wolf's mind from whatever had caused it to spare her a few extra minutes of life. Eventually, though, laying in the water-logged mulch got cold, and she new she couldn't sustain this level of panic-filled adrenaline without permanent heart damage.

Taking in a deep fortifying breath, she slowly sat up and crossed her legs, never breaking eye contact with the wolf. Gradually, almost cautiously, the beast stood on all fours and approached her, finally sitting again a few feet in front of her.

The panic in her veins receded, downgrading to simple caution. Which was absurd, at best; she sat alone in the woods with a mutant deadly animal of mythical proportions.

But he just sat there, looking at her, panting lightly.

"Hello Big Guy," she finally said.

The look on the wolf's face was almost comical. And that's how she knew she was insane; to believe that this animal actually existed and that it could have an expression of pure shock in its eyes as it cocked its head slightly.

"I hate to break it to you," she informed him, "but as The Big Bad Wolf, you are a hopeless failure."

Now the animal pulled his head back slightly and she would swear he looked affronted.

Any and all fear of this beast disappeared like fog in the rising sun. She couldn't explain it, but for the second time in her life, she began to feel a strange connection. The magnetic pull usually reserved only for Jared reached out and fused itself to her core.

Huh. Weird. Maybe Jared wasn't as special as she thought. Maybe, just maybe, she could actually connect to other beings after all.

"Well honestly," she continued, "I was there for you to maul, and all you did was breathe on me."

Was that a smirk on that furry face?

"Not that I'm complaining. I do thank you for not devouring me."

The wolf huffed, and its head dipped slightly.

"But maybe you weren't doing me any favors," she reasoned. "Maybe I'm simply I'm not your flavor."

Could wolves raise an eyebrow?

"This could really be an insult," she continued. "Are you saying I'm not good enough for you?"

That massive pink tongue started bathing her face and neck, slobbering all over her.

"Oh _gross_!" she shrieked through her laughter, and pushed at its face to get him off her to no avail. "Ok! Ok! I take it back! You think I'm delicious!"

The wolf huffed again as it backed off, now with a smug expression.

Soaking wet, the cold had seeped into her bones and chose that moment to send a chill through her body. The wolf saw her shiver and growled softly as it lay down next to her, pushing in close. Warmth radiated off him, and she buried her arctic hands in his fur.

"Wow, you are really hot!" she exclaimed. The wolf turned its eyes to her, and she imagined amusement. "Look, I'm not a freak, ok? I'm sure that to a girl wolf, you're everything sexy."

He huffed and narrowed his eyes slightly as he twitched his head to the side. Kim could almost hear the "Yeah, right. Whatever."

"You know, it kind of sucks that you are figment of my imagination."

Big Guy's eyes shot to hers, staring.

"It's just that I had a really bad day, and here you are making it all better. I can talk to you." She shot him a wry look. "I can't talk to people; I end up sounding like a retard." She sighed and began running her fingers over the thick brown fur, scratching occasionally. "I hate being shy. Everyone at school thinks I'm either challenged or stuck-up."

The wolf snorted again, and she couldn't decide what he meant.

"It's getting late," she said after a moment of silence, rubbing his fur one last time. "I have to get home. My parent's will start to get worried."

She stood, and the wolf copied her. Leaning its massive head down, he pushed his forehead into her stomach, nuzzling her. In the process, he pushed her back a couple of feet and she laughed with a light heart. "Yeah, it's good to have a friend. I haven't had one for a very long time."

Big Guy licked her again, and she smiled as she swatted at him "Quit that!" she ordered. "Wanna race home?"

The wolf snorted and posed in the "ready" position. "Ready… Set…" The wolf took off and she scrambled to catch up. "Cheater!" she yelled around laughter, and followed the brown blur down the trail.

She couldn't remember the last time she felt so _alive_


	2. Chapter 2

History class. Again. Kim was actually very proud of herself for going the whole morning without once scanning the halls for a sighting of Jared. Her mind, for once, had been preoccupied. She didn't mind walking the halls alone, she filled the time reliving her moments in the woods with the wolf, recapturing that feeling.

But now she sat in history and her mind and body now waited in anticipation for _him_ to walk through the door. As usual, her head bent low to allow her hair to create a curtain around her face while her eye muscles ached with the strain she placed on them to swivel farther in their sockets than they were ever intended to achieve. Her heart raced and her breath came in short gasps.

She didn't have to wait long, Jared stepped through the door earlier than any other time that year, and his eyes immediately landed on her. His face softened, his smile gentle, and he took a deep breath- as though it was his first one that morning. He didn't scan the classroom, as per routine, but headed straight for the empty chair to Kim's right.

Several people called out to him, and he waved or nodded to acknowledge them, but didn't stop to talk. Kim dropped her eyes as he slid into the seat, and heard his backpack hit the top of the desk. She listened to the sound of zippers being pulled and the rustle of stiff fabric and finally, the _thunk_ of a book hitting a hard surface.

After a moment, she felt the ends of her hair ruffle slightly and a folded paper appeared on her desk. Confused, her eyes shot upward for a second to meet Jared's. He smiled warmly and nodded once.

Unfolding the paper, she read one simple line. "Good morning Kim!" in an almost unreadable scrawl preceded a little smiley face.

Could he get any more bizarre or random? A warmth rushed over her, and to her mortification, she could feel the blush in her cheeks. Just great.

She scrawled back "Good morning Jared," proud of herself for responding intelligently. She could pass notes with the best of them, even if she was a little rusty. You didn't have to use your voice, and that made all the difference.

She reached out to place the paper on his desk, just as he had done, but his massive hands intercepted and enveloped hers, peeling the folded rectangle away. His fingers lightly trailed across her palm as he slowly dragged away the note, and she nearly passed out with the sensations shooting up her arm and into her chest.

_My Jared._

Her breathing reduced to short gasps and when Mr. Stone chose that moment to call the class to order, she sunk into herself again. Opening up her textbook, she spent the entire hour pretending to read the material as she scolded herself for stalkerish tendencies while covertly keeping the hand he'd caressed against her stomach.

When the bell rang, she made her daily rush to the cafeteria, but within minutes of situating herself at her normal table, Jared plopped into the seat across from her as though it would be the most natural thing in the world. She stared at him with incredulity as he pulled two slices of pepperoni pizza from his tray and placed them on hers. He took a bite of one of the many slices he'd kept for himself and smiled.

"I am starving," he said.

"I can see that," she said, cringing inwardly. How rude. She didn't mean to sound rude, it just came out that way.

But Jared merely laughed and took another bite. His nearness created havoc on her insides, and the thought of eating was daunting. But for something to do, she picked up one of slices and nibbled at the edge. Holding the pizza kept her hands busy, and with her mouth full, he wouldn't expect her talk too much.

Why was he here? She wanted to ask, but didn't want to be rude again and chase him off. The whole scenario reminded her of one of those teen movies where the popular guy makes a bet with his friends about the unlikely girl, and ends up breaking her heart. And she had to admit that the suspicion had crossed her mind.

But ever since Jared had gotten back from his illness he'd been… different. He'd pretended to be his usual carefree self, but his eyes were guarded now. He didn't flirt with the girls like he used to and in fact, he hadn't spent much time with any of his pack of friends, including his best friend Paul.

Kim turned her head to Jared's regular table and saw his friends eating and joking and having fun. Paul looked up at that moment and the look of frustration and anger he shot toward Jared startled her. They must be having a fight.

Which still didn't explain why he was sitting at _her_ table; he could have chosen any seat in the cafeteria. But she wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He was close. He sat no farther than a few feet away from her, and she basked in the energizing force. Taking a deep, fortify breath, she nibbled again at the pizza.

Meanwhile, Jared had eaten halfway through his mountain of food in companionable silence, seemingly undisturbed by her lack of witty conversation. Whenever she braved raising her eyes from her tray, he smiled at her with a look in his eyes she couldn't identify, but which made her heart melt.

Who needed drugs? Just get your daily Jared fix, and you'd be on a high for life.

"Speaking of ducks," Jared said suddenly, and Kim couldn't keep the half smile from lifting one of the corners of her mouth at his randomness and the smooth way he pretended that they hadn't been silent for the last five minutes. "You'll never believe what happened in fifth period yesterday."

She couldn't help herself, he looked so enthusiastic. She had to find out the connection between ducks and his biology class. "What happened?" she asked.

Jared instantly launched into an intricate, detailed, and completely unbelievable story about an experiment gone wrong in which half the class was turned green, a sink was set on fire, a frog came back to life and attacked a kid with a red shirt.

He wove his story for the rest of lunch, through the bell and all the way to Kim's next class. Somehow, she became so lost in his absurd tale that she managed to forget that she was surrounded by people, and her unrestrained laughter flowed from her. She didn't even realize he'd led her down the hall and it was with no small measure of shock that she looked up to see the door of her literature class.

"Wait!" she interrupted Jared's story. "What does that have to do with ducks?" she asked, fighting her smile.

He stopped for a second, as though _she_ was the random one and he was trying to figure out what she was referring to. It only took him a moment to make the connection and he smiled.

"Did you know that ducks have serrated bills?"

"Um… no. I didn't know that."

"Neither did I."

Okay then.

He winked at her before walking away, ensuring all her insides turned into a puddle mass of goo. She didn't even mind when half the kids in class stared at her, walking to her desk like a zombie with a goofy smile on her face. Ramona, who had sat in front of her all year long, did a double-take before she sat down, and then smiled and nodded a friendly greeting.

The rest of the day passed in a hazy blur, and the goofy smile seemed to be permanently glued to her face. And the strangest thing happened; people smiled and nodded at her, or said "hello" when they passed by. In fact, almost everyone seemed friendlier. A few girls though, the ones who had made the biggest plays for Jared, glared at her. She chose to ignore them, and savor the buzz.

When she climbed off the bus in the afternoon, Kim raced home and changed as quickly as possible before setting off in her daily run, energized and desperate to _move_. A quarter of a mile into her routine, after civilization had disappeared beyond the edge of the forest, just after she rounded a bend, Big Guy sat like a sentinel in the middle of her path.

"Big Guy, you came back!" she yelled as she charged into him and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He pushed the side of his head into hers affectionately, and lightly licked her cheek.

She scratched behind a massive brown ear for a second, and then gestured for him to follow her as she continued her jog. He ran ahead, then came back, circled her a few times and then raced ahead again, making her laugh.

"Show off!" she yelled and the beast only threw its head back slightly and yipped before continuing his antics.

Three miles later, she slowed and then stopped to sit on a wide flat boulder on the side of the path. The wolf chose to sit beside her, and wrapped his tail around her back to rest over her lap. Idly, she picked it up and started flipping it back and forth, combing the hair with her fingers.

"You remind me of my friend Amanda," she said. He turned his head to look at her questioningly. "She was my best friend back home, before we moved here. I could talk to her like I talk to you. We used to do everything together."

She paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts and feelings. "I miss her. I remember one time…"

The words seemed to flow from her involuntarily. She told the animal about their sleepovers and their phone conversations, about their crushes, and their early childhood games of pirate. She told him about how they'd buy a half gallon of ice cream and sit and eat it together while they plotted their next adventures. She even told him about their squabbles, and how once in the seventh grade they didn't talk to each other for an entire week before they realized the whole misunderstanding had been deliberately started by a boy in their class.

They got even by announcing to everyone that he still slept with a teddy bear.

Time rolled by without her noticing the passage, telling the wolf her life story. Cocooned in warmth by the heat radiating off him, the cool air didn't bother her. Not until she could barely see her own hands anymore in the fading light did she jump up, startled.

"You let me talk forever!" she accused, racing down the path. "Dad's gonna kill me!"

Her friend ran beside her all the way to the edge of the woods, and she stopped only long enough to scratch his neck and kiss between his eyes. "Thank you!" she told him before leaving him alone in the trees, trying to come up with a valid excuse to give her parents.

Somehow, she didn't think "I lost track of time while I bore my soul to a massive wolf" would cut it.

xxxxxxx

Walking the hallways in school the next morning left Kim feeling… jumpy. People were smiling at her and waving. She tried to smile and nod, but the emotional high carrying her through yesterday had long since dissipated, and the overwhelming butterflies in her stomach left her slightly nauseous.

And then Ramona appeared suddenly behind her while Kim shuffled through the contents of her locker, startling her so badly that she nearly hit the poor girl. "I'm sorry," she mumbled as she bent down to pick up the textbook she dropped.

"No problem," Ramona assured with a smile, helping her. "I just wanted to invite you to the bonfire tomorrow night. I wasn't sure if you'd heard or not."

She'd heard. The news had gone in one ear and out the other. "Oh, yeah. Thank you but—"

"Cool! See you in lit!"

And the girl disappeared down the hall.

Flabbergasted, Kim just stood there for a moment, her mouth hanging open slightly while she tried to think. There was no way she could go to the bonfire. The only reason people were being nice to her now was because Jared had spent a couple of days eating lunch with her on a whim. When he and Paul made up from whatever fight they were having, which was going to be soon because they never could keep up a fight longer than two days, she would go back to oblivion, and everyone would forget her existence again.

A weird magnetic force pulled at her from behind, so she didn't jump in surprise when she heard Jared's "Good morning Kim!"

Her forced smile became easy at that moment and she managed a breathy "Hey".

He grabbed her books from her hands and headed in the direction of her first class, leaving her with the choice to follow, or to stand there and gape. To her relief, her legs followed orders and kept her upright and moving with him.

"Speaking of ducks," Jared said after a second, and she couldn't help it, a belly laugh erupted from her. He smiled down at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Did I ever tell you about the time I fell off the roof and broke my nose?"

"Um, no," she told him with bemusement.

"I was six years old. Paul and I were playing Superman, and I tried to fly off the awning of the porch."

She shook her head, chuckling and wondering what brought on this confession.

"My face hit a rock in the grass. There was blood everywhere, it was great." She rolled her eyes, but he continued with his story. "Paul ran to get my mom, and she had to rush me to the emergency room."

"How many bones have you broken?" Kim asked, forgetting for a moment that she couldn't talk around Jared.

"Six," he said proudly.

"Are they as good a story as this?" she asked.

"Better," he promised as the bell rang. With his wide smile, he handed her back her books and looked pointedly at her door.

Getting the hint, she shook her head and left him in the hallway, ruminating over how completely random he could be. Maybe he just needed someone to tell stories to. Hadn't she talked off the ears of Big Guy yesterday, telling him all her silly antics?

She didn't see Jared again until history class, and when he walked in the door he gave one of his heart-melting smiles as he headed straight for his new desk. Plopping down, he turned to her and leaned close.

"My big toe," he said in all seriousness.

"You stubbed it?" she asked. Where did this nerve suddenly come from? But it was _fun_.

"Well… yeah," he admitted, and grinned when she giggled. "But it's _where_ I stubbed it," he said quietly, glancing left and right as though sharing a deep secret.

"Where."

"On a tombstone." She raised an eyebrow, intrigued and he seemed pleased he had her attention. "At midnight." He paused dramatically. "On Halloween."

"All right everybody, turn to page forty nine," Mr. Stone interrupted their conversation to start class.

But when the bell rang at the end, Jared picked up the story, as though there hadn't been any interruption. He kept her laughing all the way through the lunch line and to the table. A warm, insular bubble surrounded them and she reveled in the attention, knowing it wouldn't last long and determined to enjoy while it lasted. He didn't expect anything from her; all she had to do was listen, and he did all the rest.

It was a little disconcerting, though. Every time she interrupted his monologue to ask the occasional clarifying question, everything about him stopped and centered on her. Any small comment or inane observation from her and he refocused all his energy for a brief second, letting her know he paid attention to every detail of what she said or did.

But when his eyes flicked over her shoulder and hardened for the briefest of moments before softening again while he continued his current story, her fantasy world shattered, dumping her back in reality once again. She turned to see what had caused him his moment of grief and saw Paul sitting at their regular table, scowling into his food as their group of friends laughed and joked around him.

Her heart plummeted, and she felt really bad for both of them. "Why don't you go talk to him?" she asked, turning back around to Jared as she interrupted the description of what happens when you try to paint your walls using a ceiling fan.

"It won't help," he said quietly, casting his eyes downward to his food.

"Sure it will," she encouraged. "You guys have been best friends forever. Whatever happened, I'm sure if you just talk about it—"

"I can't," he said, and then shot her a look that broke her heart even more. Jared had a lot of sadness that he hid behind his carefree façade, and he was letting her see it. "I wasn't sick with Mono Kim, it was something else."

That confused her; how the heck were the two related? Her reaction must have shown on her face because he sighed and tossed his fork down in frustration.

"I've been going through something lately. I've been… changing."

"Yeah," she said. "I know." He looked surprised and she shrugged in embarrassment. She couldn't meet his eyes when she admitted "You've gotten guarded. It's like there's this invisible wall between you and everyone else." _Except me_. But she didn't add that part. It would sound smug.

"You see a lot more than you let on, don't you."

_Only when it's you_.

She shrugged again.

"I can't tell Paul what is happening with me yet. And he can't accept that."

"He might not resent it so much if you spent more time with him like you used to," she said. "They've saved your chair over there."

Jared shook his head "no". "I won't."

Taking in a deep breath, she put her own desire to have him all to herself away and made the ultimate sacrifice. "Why not? If you just—"

"How would you feel about eating over there with that group?" he asked, interrupting her.

Her stomach lodged in her throat and she felt all the blood drain away from her face. The thought of going over there to a crowded table, to _that_ table with the most energetic kids in school absolutely terrified her.

"Exactly," Jared said, as if his point had been made. Which it hadn't because _he was one of those kids._ But then he managed to shock her all over again when he continued. "I'm not going to put you through that."

Wait.

_What?_

He was blaming _her_ for this? He invited himself to her table! He was using _her_ to avoid his friend in this little feud they were having! For the very first time in three and half years of having a crush on this boy, a sharp spike of anger at him flashed through her.

"I have nothing to do with this," she said, proud of her control.

"Not with Paul and I, no," he agreed. "But I want to spend time with you, and I figured cornering you at lunch is the only time you'd let me. And sitting over there," he gestured to the table in question, "where Ethan burps the alphabet and Christine can't shut up about the latest Vogue magazine, isn't exactly within your comfort zone."

Wow. He was choosing her over his lifelong best friend. She shouldn't ask, but… why? What had happened during those two weeks to make him change so drastically?

"I think you should eat with them tomorrow."

"Today is Friday," he pointed out, and she rolled her eyes to show her irritation.

"Monday then," she said in a "don't be annoying" tone of voice. "Better yet, go to the bonfire tomorrow and hang with them for a while. Let them see you aren't all that much different."

"But I am different, Kim. You know that." She scrunched her mouth in frustration and he continued. "You are the only one in this whole school who has seen all of me, as I am now, and accepted me completely. Do you know how liberating that is?"

"Oh, I don't know," she argued, "Just about every girl in school appreciates the new you."

It was his turn to roll his eyes. "That's just the shell," he said. "If they knew what was on the inside, they'd run screaming." He lowered his head to give his food more concentration than it needed.

What on earth was he talking about? "There's nothing scary about you," she told him in confusion. "It's not like you're the Big Bad Wolf."

His head shot up and he eyed her warily for a second. But then a slow smile emerged, a smile with a secret behind it. He reached across the table and grabbed her left hand, folding it into his own. The temperature of his hand would have concerned her, but every coherent thought disappeared when she looked at him. The… adoration… on his face left her breathless. She had to be mistaken. She had to have misinterpreted his expression.

"Everything will work out," he assured her. "We just have to wait."

What would work out? What did they have to wait for? She cast around her jumbled thoughts as electricity raced through her veins. Oh yeah. Paul. The best friend, who probably resented her now. Possibly hated her. Jared was assuring her that Paul would come around.

He squeezed her hand and she quit caring for the moment. If he sat with her again on Monday, she'd insist he make amends then. She'd put her backpack on the chair across from her and say the seat was taken. Or, better yet, she'd go to the library and hide again. But for now, the boy she'd crushed on for years held her hand and smiled at her and told her she was the only one who understood him.

The earth could open up and swallow the entire school whole for all she cared at the moment; she'd died and gone to heaven.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's Note: Thank you for the reviews, I really appreciate them. :)

xxxxxxx

"Big Guy!" Kim hollered in exultation, throwing her arms around his massive neck in greeting and squeezing for all she was worth. "Guess what happened today!" she demanded, barely containing her excitement.

He dipped his head and grunted in encouragement.

She squealed and jumped a few times, knowing how ridiculous and childish her behavior was, but unable to stop the giddy joy. If the wolf in front of her was Amanda, they'd be holding hands and jumping together. But a girl had to work with what she was given, and her current best friend was a mythical creature.

"He held my hand!" She interpreted the look on his face as confusion. "Jared," she told her friend. "Only the boy I've had a crush on since the moment I stepped off the school bus that first day three and a half years ago."

The wolf looked shocked.

"I know, pathetic, huh. I'm so stupid. A couple of years ago, when I was in my melodramatic phase, I even signed my name as Kim Cameron in my journal every night."

The wolf snorted.

"Don't laugh pal, I was fourteen. I outgrew it of course, as soon as I hit reality and embraced the fact that Jared would never even know I was alive."

He whimpered slightly.

"You are so loyal," she laughed and scratched his neck as a reward. "But don't worry. A few days ago he tripped over me on the way out of class, and somehow I hit his radar. And, for the moment, he sees me!"

Her friend growled softly.

"Oh don't get like that," she reproved. "It's only temporary, until I can get him to make up with his best friend. And then he'll forget me again."

The wolf's growls grew more pronounced.

"He's a nice guy," she said. "You need to chill out. And I'm okay with temporary. It's more than I ever thought I'd have. And he held my hand! For half the lunch period, and then he walked me to my lit class."

She sighed with happiness and kissed the wolf on the muzzle.

"Besides, I'm allowed to have a guy, I'm sure there's a girl wolf you like out there. I bet all the girl wolves fight over you."

He merely snorted.

"Come on!" she said, starting on her daily run. "Race you to the clearing!"

He circled her the whole way there, barely even increasing his breathing. She finally got to their rock, laughing. "I'm going to bring a Frisbee with me next time, and you can chase that!"

He merely plopped onto the rock next to her with a smug look on his face. They sat in silence for a moment, watching the leaves in the trees sway.

"Ramona invited me to a bonfire tomorrow." The wolf turned his face to hers questioningly. "No, I'm not going. But that's not the point."

He quirked an eyebrow.

"The point is that she actually invited me." She paused briefly before explaining. "A lot of people are being really nice to me right now."

The wolf cocked his head to the side slightly.

"Don't look at me like that. They are only being nice to me because Jared is. When he goes back to his friends, they'll all forget me again."

He growled softly again.

"What is up with you today? Good grief!" She got up and started heading down the path to her house, but Big Guy jumped up and stood in the path. He was looking at her intently, and the magnetic pull between the two of them intensified. "What is it?" she asked softly.

Finally, he walked over to her and nuzzled his head into her neck. She scratched behind his ears for a moment. "I got in really big trouble for being gone so long yesterday," she finally told him. "I have to get going."

He huffed and stepped back, but took a goodbye swipe at her neck with his tongue.

"Yeah, I love you too," she whispered and kissed him between the eyes before jogging away, pulling at the invisible force trying to keep her to stay.

xxxxxxx

The bonfire. Not quite sure how she'd been talked into getting here, she squeezed Jared's hand tighter and shot him a dirty look, despite the warm gooey feelings he kept instilling in her.

"What?" he asked innocently, pulling her in closer as they navigated the crowd.

The expression in his eyes reminded her of the way her wolf looked at her this morning when he'd started laughing at her over the story of going skinny-dipping with Amanda in the seventh grade, and nearly getting caught by the Hansen twins. Big Guy couldn't exactly laugh she admitted, but that snorty, sneezy guffaw had given his amusement away and when she nearly broke her hand smacking him, he'd gotten that exact same look in his eyes Jared used on her now.

That story had only been one of a great many she'd told the animal today. At sunrise she'd heard a wolf howling mournfully in the distance, so she'd thrown on her clothes and sought him out. She found him down their trail, wagging his tail, holding a Frisbee in his mouth, and looking like a mutant puppy desperate for attention.

They'd spent most of the day playing various childish games like tag, hide and seek and hours of catch. At one point, he even convinced her to climb onto his back, and he gave her a ride through the forest that she would never, ever forget. Just the memory of the wind on her face and the trees whipping by sent the adrenaline rushing through her veins again.

"Are you with me?" Jared asked in her ear, causing swarms of moths to migrate through her stomach and bringing her back to the present.

"Yeah," she answered breathlessly.

Around them, the party waged on. The sound of countless voices talking, hollering and laughing battled with the music blaring from someone's radio. The smell of food grilling was enough to tempt the pickiest appetite. The air was chilly, most everyone wore jackets and sat close to the bonfire. But Kim realized that as long as she stayed close to Jared, she wouldn't need the sweater she brought.

He was as hot as her wolf.

Odd. She almost began examining that observation, but Ramona passed by and grabbed her arm, smiling warmly.

"Hey Kim," she greeted, and then turned her eyes to Jared. To Kim's shock, all the warmth disappeared and they hardened like granite. "Hello Jared."

"Hello," he greeted civilly to a blank wall because she already tuned him out.

"Good to see you," Ramona told Kim. "A couple of us are eating over there," she invited, pointing in the direction of a small group of kids. "Come on over if you feel like it."

She shot Jared a dirty look before heading away.

"What was that all about?" Kim asked in complete confusion.

"Ramona hates me," he answered, tugging her toward the grill. "Paul and I played a joke on her in the fourth grade. Remember the whip cream story?"

Kim thought her eyes were going to bug out of her head.

"Yeah," Jared confirmed. "Her. She holds a grudge."

She stopped dead in her tracks, yanking on Jared's hand. "She can't hate you," she denied. "That doesn't make sense. She only started being nice to me two days ago."

"So?" he asked.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Everyone started being nice two days ago. Ever since you started eating lunch with me."

He shrugged. "I guarantee, being seen with me is not a point in your favor with Ramona. Maybe you've just loosened up a little bit in the last couple of days and people are noticing."

She highly doubted it, but it was something to think about.

He plied her with a plate of food and led her to the edge of the party, where they could technically still be considered part of the action, but far enough away that she relaxed and her fear abated. Without ceremony, he dug into dinner and began the now familiar rambling. It seemed as though they spent most of their time together eating, but she didn't mind. He enjoyed the activity so much that his enthusiasm was infectious, and her own meal was one of the best she'd ever eaten.

When both their plates were empty, he held his hand out to her and when she placed hers inside it, he pulled her close and began to dance. The sound of the other kids voices faded away, and all she could hear was the music. He swayed gently in time to the melody and once again, they were encircled in their own cocoon. He didn't speak, but instead kept his eyes on hers, staring into her soul and offering his own.

That look held a thousand unspoken words, and his love and adoration wrapped around her like a warm embrace, swallowing her.

Jared Cameron loved her.

For some miraculous, unknown, strange and bizarre reason, Jared loved her with everything he had to offer. _My Jared_. He was always meant to be hers, and he finally caught up to that fact. He wouldn't disappear on her. He wouldn't forget about her when he solved his differences with Paul.

She didn't know why this knowledge was absolute, but she knew it as surely as she knew her own name. The depth of emotions nearly choked her, and her legs went weak. Jared tightened his hold on her, pulling her against his chest and she could feel his erratic heartbeat in her ear as they swayed to the music.

Slowly, cautiously, he pulled back and leaned lower, letting his cheek caress her hair, her face, her ear until his nose softly glided across her neck, to her collarbone. Her breaths shortened to quick gasps as she felt first his tongue, then teeth, alternate nipping at her skin as he edged his way upward to her jaw. She felt his intake of air as he breathed her scent into his lungs.

His fingers glided through her hair, combing downward until each hand stopped to cradle her face. Then, slowly… almost reverently, he leaned forward until his lips gently pressed the spot just between her eyes.

"You are my favorite flavor," he whispered with the softest of breaths.

Every bone in her body melted at that moment, and she heard a gasp escape her lips- though where the air came from she had no clue, since there wasn't any in her lungs to begin with.

"Jared!" a frantic voice broke through the spell he had woven. "Jared! Come quick, Paul is really sick!"

The violent explicative that burst from him, though thoroughly appropriate for the moment, was like having a bucket of ice water poured over her head, cooling all of her overheated nerve endings and dumping her back in reality.

She stayed at his side as he hurried after Ethan, following the young man to the other side of the crowd where they found Paul sitting on a log, doubled over and clutching at his stomach. Sweat covered him as his body shook uncontrollably.

"He's had a fever and headache all day," Ethan told them as Jared ran over and felt Paul's forehead. "We told him to stay home, but he insisted on coming."

"Come on," Jared instructed, pulling one of Paul's arms over his shoulders and standing up. His friend struggled slightly but he held on tightly. "I've got to get you out of here," she heard him whisper. "It's starting."

"G… ge… get lllost," Paul stammered.

Realizing that Ethan and the other kids in the group weren't willing to touch the fevered youth and doing nothing to assist, Kim ran to Paul's other side and supported him over her shoulder. She wasn't sure she was much help, but it made it more difficult for Paul to struggle.

"Kim no," Jared said in a low voice, even as the three of them headed for Paul's truck at a surprisingly rapid pace. "You've got to get out of here."

"I can help," she insisted. "I can drive him to the hospital while you get his parents—"

"No!" Jared shouted, startling her, and the three of them stumbled slightly in the deserted parking lot. "Kim, he's going to be all right, but you need to let me handle this. Here," he said, digging into the front pocket of his jeans and pulling out his car keys. He tossed them at her without even checking to see if she caught them. "Take my car home. I'll be by later to pick it up."

A seizure hit Paul and a low growling noise reverberated from his chest area.

"Kim, GO!" Jared hollered.

She ran to the edge of the parking lot, but turned to watch Jared lift Paul as if he were a rag doll and toss him into the back of the pickup truck. Scrambling into the cab, he gunned the engine and peeled out of the parking lot as though running from a fire, spitting gravel and dirt in an arch behind him. It only took seconds before the tail lights disappeared behind a bend.

She stood there for a few minutes, staring into the darkness and clutching Jared's keys in her hand so tightly that the grooves hurt her fingers.

Now what?


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: Thank you CassyKinz for reading through this and helping to smooth out the rough spots. :) You were a wonderful help!

xxxxxxx

Sunday, Big Guy only showed up long enough to run her usual track with her, then pushed her home.

Monday, Paul was predictably absent from school.

Jared skipped history, so she chose to sit at a picnic table outside that day. The air was cool, and few others wanted to brave the elements, so she had the added bonus of being alone. Just as she situated herself, Jared showed up, looking like he hadn't slept since he'd peeled away in the truck that night.

"How is he?" She asked quietly when he slumped onto the bench beside her.

"He'll be all right," Jared told her, sighing, his eyes closed as he held his head in his hands, his elbows braced on the table. "The first few days are the worst."

She nodded, as though she knew what he meant. "That's what happened to you," she said and watched as his head jerked slightly to verify she was right. "It looked horrible."

He finally opened his red-rimmed eyes to look at her. "Yeah." He nodded slightly. "I'm sorry for yelling at you," he added even more softly, forcing her to her lean closer to hear.

"Yeah, that ticked me off," she said, proud of herself for her honesty. "But I made an allowance for your concern for Paul."

"It wasn't Paul I was worried about," he informed her, turning in his seat so that his whole body faced her. "I was scared to death you were going to get hurt. You have no idea how close a call it was."

Her heart stuttered for a moment, though she didn't know why. Jared, on top of being random, could be melodramatic as well, it seemed. She pulled back, intending to roll her eyes, but the fear on his face stopped her. He had genuinely been afraid.

Of what?

Paul's change. What was the boy going to change into? She'd had a long time to think about that low growl. The impossible, crazy, ridiculous, totally mental theory that had reared its ugly head over the last thirty-six hours jumped up and waved at her again.

_You are my favorite flavor_. What kind of boy says that to a girl? She had to test him.

"Amanda called yesterday," she said, looking at her tray.

"How'd she do?" he asked, referring to a song recital she told Big Guy about.

That was all the confirmation she needed. He was _him_. Embarrassment and humiliation slithered through her, stealing her breath and causing her face to flame, compounding her misery. "You are such a bastard, Jared."

Any other girl would get up and run, as far and as fast as they could. But she just sat there beside him, stabbing at her meatloaf with her spork over and over again. He cringed, but he didn't ask her what she was talking about.

"You are a jack-ass." She stabbed the mushy substance a few more times. "You are a pig. You found that all hilarious, didn't you? All that rambling about how lost I am over you."

"How could I stop you?" he asked with a scratchy voice. No explanation. No apology. "But to bring reality into this, you do realize that you are mad at me for hearing a secret…and not because of a major secret I kept from you this whole time."

She stabbed at the chunks of meat on her plate a few more times. Yeah, she knew this was ridiculous. She had everything backwards. But she felt like she'd been knifed in the back.

"Why?" she asked finally, turning to glare at him. Anger went a long way to mitigate the humiliation. "Why did you do it?"

He dropped his hands on the table beside hers, but didn't touch her. He didn't need to. His heat reached out and burned her, keeping the cool day at bay.

"Because you needed me," he said.

She breathed in to refute him, but realized she couldn't. "Explain."

"You didn't need a boyfriend," he said. "You were so alone. You needed a friend. I need to be whatever you need. So I was your… I guess I was your pet." One side of his face twitched. "I tried to repay you for sharing yourself with me," he continued. "I tried to give you all my crazy stories, too."

But that didn't negate the fact that he sat there listening to her moon over him. He knew about her journal! Her eyes rolled up into her head as the lids closed, and she dropped her head.

"_Bastard_," she mumbled in her misery.

"So, just to make sure we have this straight…it's not the wolf thing you are upset about."

"No," she agreed. It was the humiliation. And, she realized with no small measure of mirth, the fact that she'd lost her pet wolf!

There was a moment of silence. Finally he breathed in deeply. "Just when I don't think I can love you any more than I already do, you pull the rug out from under me."

"It's only been five days," she pointed out morosely, without raising her head.

"How did you figure it out?" he asked, and she turned to look at him finally. He was so exhausted. So physically and emotionally wore out. Against her better judgment, her anger began to dissipate.

"You're hot," she started, and saw that same cocky look Bug Guy gave her that first day. "Temperature-wise," she clarified with her eyes narrowed. And he nodded like he was placating her. "Your eyes are the same," she continued. "The way you kissed me the other night."

Jared smiled at her with the memory, and she wanted to thwap him for his ego trip. But his unexpected shyness stopped her.

"I'd been dying to do that since the first day," he admitted. "Every single time you touched me, I wanted to melt into you. I wanted to show you what you do to me."

Wow. She had that kind of power over him?

"Mostly," she finally said after she found her breath again, "mostly it was the pull."

He just looked at her for a second. "The what?" he asked.

Sighing, she tried to explain. The boy already told her he loved her in a backhanded fashion; it was time to be honest in return.

"The pull," she said. "There's…there's this invisible bungee cord that is stretched between us. My end is hooked up right here." She pointed to her diaphragm. "The harder I try to pull away from you, the tighter the cord stretches." She shrugged. "Once I realized Big Guy wasn't going to eat me alive, the same cord fused between me and him."

Suddenly, his head dipped toward hers, and the soft touch of their lips meeting erased any lingering bad will, stealing her breath and shooting electricity through her body. His warmth surrounded her, filled her until she thought she'd explode with it. She felt one arm encircle her waist, pulling her closer while the other wrapped around her shoulders.

She had just felt his teeth gently nip at her lips when an annoying voice intruded.

"Jared and Kim, the bell rang ten minutes ago." Their heads swiveled around to see Ms. Henderson standing at the edge of the table with one hand on her hips, looking at them with forced patience. "Unless you want detention, you need to get to class within the next three minutes."

"Yes Ms. Henderson," they said in unison.

She turned her face back to Jared to see that he had the same dazed expression. They both shared mirroring goofy smiles. There was still so much to work through, but they both felt it- this unquantifiable energy, this new beginning, this promise. From now on, they both had someone who could _see_ them.

Everything would be all right.

xxxxxxx

Ending Author's note: This is the final chapter, so my story is complete. Thank you everyone who read and commented. I tried to stay in cannon, what little there is. I based Kim's reactions to Jared on Claire and Renesme's human form of imprinting. They both were very possessive and unconditionally accepting, and I made Kim similar. And I based her friendship with the wolf on my friendships with my dogs! lol! I had a dog once who would sit and listen to me for as long as I wanted to talk, laugh, cry, or whatever. He'd walk until his legs fall off, if I was with him. And if I was sick, he'd crawl into bed with me and insist on snuggling close. So that's where this story came from. :) I hope I was able to entertain.


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